Need RAID storage solution

Tradarcher

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Creedmoor, NC
Son does video so he needs a storage solution for all the footage he is amassing. We have a limited budget. I already have WD 1TB HDD drives available to me. He uses a macbook Pro with thunderbolt and usb3. Looking for an enclosure from 2-8 using Raid 1. There is a lot out there so not sure what to stay away from.
 
We have a Synology disk station. It wasn't cheap, but it's been flawless. Currently 6-7 years old, runs 24/7. Synology tech support is great.

Pay close attention to long term support. A buddy of mine was complaining this morning that his NAS is a brick. It doesn't support current versions of samba, so he can't access it from his windows 10 devices.
 
You can also repurpose an old workstation and DIY it (freenas, unraid, etc).
 
have had bad exp with NAS. finicky. Ive heard about Synology and happy users with them. For raid only exp is with repurposed and controllers. For enclosures, it seems most have used rosewell.
 
Also, Synology SHR has a much better feature set than traditional raid 5:

DiskStation Manager - Knowledge Base | Synology Inc.

I can't recall what the underlying software is, but it's all fairly standard Linux stuff. If your Synology were to die, you can stick the drives in a regular linux box, install a couple of packages, and restore the array. I have instructions around here somewhere....
 
Tradarcher said:
Thanks for the replies. Probably not looking at NAS right now, need DAS and would like Thunderbolt. I like this but wish I could get more drives in it for my $275. OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual USB 3.1 Gen 1 &... at MacSales.com
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a different problem. I agree on the drives. I also wonder what the actual transfer speeds are with standard sata platters, since you're still stuck with the actual drive speed as a limitation.

Does SSD caching fix the speed issues if you're editing video?
 
I'm just looking for safe storage/backup for now. He's got a 250 and a 500 gig ssd in his macbook pro and that is where his workflow/work in process/temp storage will reside. Ultimately, when his business is in a position to do it, I am sure he will have a set up where he can use the RAID storage when editing. Even then it would probably have to be a fast connection directly to the computer because I suspect there won't be a network arrangement fast enough and for now he is the only one that needs to access it. He has multiple ssd's mounted in external USB3 enclosures and they are all full and now the 750g in his macbook is full. :(
 
I clicked on this thead expecting a conversation about where to store pesticides. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized it was just a bunch of nerd talk.
 
I scavenged some WD 1Tb blue drives from some desktops. I know the red ones are rated for NAS but I won't be using these for NAS. I will be using them for DAS. Anybody on here that can comment on that?
So I didn't win the auction for the OWC Thunderbay so I am still in the hunt for an enclosure. I am looking at Synology enclosures but there are so many I have to figure out which one is best for my needs.
 
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